


When the Abyss Gazes Back

by Vivien



Category: Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Prison setting, mentions of medical experimentation, mentions of torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-24
Updated: 2018-02-24
Packaged: 2019-03-23 05:47:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13781013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vivien/pseuds/Vivien
Summary: “Whoever fights monsters should see to it that in the process he does not become a monster. And if you gaze long enough into an abyss, the abyss will gaze back into you.”





	When the Abyss Gazes Back

**Author's Note:**

  * For [ChromiumHeart](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChromiumHeart/gifts).



It was the way that Poe told her to not worry about what was being done at the prison complex that made Rey suspicious, not the words.

“What you can do for the Resistance here is way more important than what you could do on a prison ship. The prisoners are contained and we’re going to keep them nice and comfy until we can start the trials. We’ve got our best on this, I promise.” He’d clapped her shoulder when he’d said this, smiling, and she’d furrowed her brows but had not argued.

She was ‘their best’. If anyone should be in charge of critically important and top secret prisoners from the latest skirmish with the First Order, it stood to reason it should be her. She was the one who could tell lies from truth, who could ferret out top secret information in a humane way. She was no Luke Skywalker; one soldier facing down the might of the First Order with a laser sword was not going to tip the scales at this point. But someone who could glean information others could not, that would make a difference.

She didn’t argue. But she did plot a way to sneak on board the frigate. She had a feeling in her gut, an insistent thing that writhed within her and chanted, “You need to know. You need to know.” She couldn’t take even Poe’s word for it, because as much as she respected her comrade in arms, she knew there was a lie underneath the reassuring words meant to distract her.

It wasn’t hard. Both her clearance and her reputation gave her the freedom to move about without being questioned. Any complications could be soothed away gently with commands backed by the Force.

She crept down the gray corridors of the prison frigate, the Force or her manual skills taking care of any locks in her way. Anyone with her powers would be virtually uncontainable; locks and heavy doors were nothing. Whenever she thought about that, her gut feeling swirled. 

“You need to know. You need to know.”

One corridor was particularly difficult to penetrate. The guards disregarded her when she told them to, but the outer door, once unlocked, gave way to a series of more doors, each one secure and alarmed. It was careful work disengaging the systems that would shriek out if breached, and the doors themselves were ridiculously dense and heavy. Once she tiptoed through the last one, she understood why.

The prone form of the Supreme Leader of the Galaxy laid on the durasteel floor of the small, windowless cell.

Rey covered her mouth to keep in the exhalation that escaped her.

Kylo Ren was unconscious, sprawled face down under the harsh lights of glow panels designed to foster discomfort. He had manacles on his wrists and ankles that were attached to heavy chains flowing from the walls. His pale body, clad only in black briefs, was covered in purpling bruises and lacerations. Small cubes of blinking circuitry had been surgically embedded along the curve of his spine with ugly sutures. Two of them rose from enflamed skin that leaked pus from infection.

She’d known it had to be him. It wasn’t just “high level officers” as she’d been told, with no lie, because that was not an untruth, even if he was the highest level officer the First Order had.

She snuck closer to the prostrate form. His hair hung lank and matted with blood, and every one of his wounds was a lash of rage, a vigilante’s mark. This was not a prisoner secured for a fair trial. This was a captive to humiliate and torture. This was the embodiment of revenge.

Rey placed her hand softly on his shoulder. He startled awake, his eyes wide and wild. He scampered backwards to wedge himself against a wall, his chest heaving.

“Ben, it’s me. It’s Rey.”

His chest heaved and his soft, bruised lips gaped for several silent minutes as he watched her. Then his eyes turned hard. He sneered. “You’ve come to get your hits in? I wondered how long it would take.”

“No,” she said, taking one step forward and then quickly moving back when she saw unbidden fear flash across his face. “No, I’m not here for that.”

“Then why are you here,” he snarled, the chains jangling as he shifted farther away from her.

“I needed to know.”

He frowned. “Well, now you know. The monster has been captured, defanged and declawed. Did you know about the nullification process? Were you part of the development? I’m sure they had to test it out on someone.”

She shook her head, “No. What are you talking about?”

Kylo turned to show her his spine, lit up with blinking circuitry. “I can’t access the Force. I don’t know what they did, but it’s blocked me off completely. Not only that, but it kriffing hurts. And the pain never stops. Never. Just like this karking bright light and the starvation and the beatings.” He slumped back against the wall. “I wish you’d just kill me, but I get it. Torture the monster. Make him pay.”

Rey knelt before him. When she cupped his injured cheek, he flinched. “That’s not what was supposed to happen. Had I known, I’d have never… Never allowed this.”

He jutted his jaw in defiance, meeting her eyes, but when he realized that she wasn’t lying to him, his face crumpled and he inhaled a jagged breath. “But I deserve it. I’ve earned every bit.”

“We’re trying to rebuild a kinder Galaxy,” she said, her eyes flat. Anger vibrated through her. “One based on truth and fairness. Not lies and cruelty.”

He huffed out a jagged laugh. “Good luck with that.”

“I’m getting you out of here,” she said, making up her mind. “Nothing is wrong with my Force capabilities, and we’ll figure out how to remove those… things.” She grimaced at the thought of the technology clamped into his flesh, cutting off the part of him of which he was the most proud. She imagined herself, cut off from the Force and alone. The lashing out that had occurred in this tiny room wasn’t going to bring dead soldiers back to life or reunite families on planets that no longer existed. Kylo Ren may deserve retribution, but it should be meted out to him in the right way, in the fair and just part of stable systems. That’s what she had fought for. Not this.

“Why are you doing this?” He was watching her in a way she recognized. She’d seen him stare at her like this in the forest on Starkiller Base, in the ruins of a throne room.

“Because you may have done monstrous things, but you’re no monster. Not to me.”

He continued to stare, disbelieving, until finally he lowered his eyes. The fingers of one hand slipped into her hand. “I dreamed of you. Dreamed you’d save me. I cursed myself for the weakness.”

“I know that feeling,” she said with a wry smile.

“I never wanted this. You have to know that. I wanted order restored to the Galaxy, and I wanted to make things right by any means necessary. But I never wanted to stand in Snoke’s place. I’ve hated it, trying to maneuver the serpents that make up the First Order. If I hadn’t been captured, I’d have probably been killed soon enough in a coup. They despise me as much as you do.”

“Then it’s just as well you’re out of their reach,” she said, taking inventory of the worst of his wounds to avoid looking into his eyes.

“So what, you’re just going to waltz me out of here? Then what happens?”

She squeezed his hand. “The right thing.”

He was silent for a moment, considering her carefully. “I have to state for the record that I have a very bad feeling about this.” But as he said this, his cracked lips turned up into what might have been a smile.

“We’ll figure it out.”

He nodded. “Yes. I guess we will.”


End file.
